Ordered Not to Evacuate, Many Houston Families Find Themselves Trapped in Their Homes

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Heeding orders not to evacuate but instead to shelter in place, hundreds of Houston residents found themselves trapped in their homes Monday as floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey rose around them.

People wait to be rescued from their flooded homes after the area was inundated with flooding from Hurricane Harvey on August 28, 2017 in Houston, Texas. (Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

“We have no power, no water. We’re flooded in. We need help,” said Dana Godfrey, 46, who was stranded with her 24-year-old son in an apartment complex surrounded by water in the Lake Houston neighborhood. “They never told us to evacuate. It’s never flooded over here.”

Godfrey said she was terrified over reports that robbers were casing homes in flooded areas. Her calls to overwhelmed emergency services had failed to yield any response by Monday evening. Across the city, residents were reporting 911 calls that went unanswered, or being put on long holds, then told that emergency personnel could not immediately be dispatched.

“I tried the National Guard, 911 emergency, the Red Cross and everybody just kept giving me another number, saying, ‘Call this number, call that number,’” said Carla Porter-Joseph, who was trying to get help for her daughter-in-law Tayosha Davis, who was trapped with her 5-year-old son in a second-floor Lake Houston apartment.